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I had a dream the other day that I was living in this weird, semi-autonomous village, and my job meant that I sort of guided people around and got them food/stuff that couldn't be found within the compound, etc. And somehow I ran into Kit Harrington because I had to help him out while he was visiting to do some promo work for GOT. And we got to be friends and I flirted a bit with him in between developing some sort of contraband ring for smuggling cool stuff into the compound (which was a nice enough seeming place even if it looked like how Disney envisioned the future... I don't remember why I was running circles around the authorities. I guess I was bored?).
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Weds here so I took Weds off and went to see Mockingjay which I enjoyed, but partially because even though it followed the book, it was a lot less boring than the book. I then went on a sock hunt since two friends of mine requested fuzzy animal socks. Cute, trendy socks are one of the more fun trends here in Korea, especially since they only cost a dollar or two and have some of the most interesting patterns. I sometimes can't wear the too small ones but other than that, the skies the limit when it comes to patterns. I found a pair that had little 8 bit stormtroopers, lightsabers and artoos all over them. And one covered in weird food. I also picked up some fuzzy iron man socks for myself and found my friends panda socks. All in all a good haul. I'm going to own so many more socks after living here *L*
Our Thanksgiving dinner was catered from the local US military base and I was in heaven to eat some turkey (ham/pork are pretty much the only meats you get consistently in Korea... chicken is available but it's almost always fried). Their stuffing was pretty good too, though the mashed potatoes sucked. And it was so nice to have pumpkin pie. It was with the other Fulbright researchers so it was also nice to catch up with some people. Since it was held in our building, I took a plate of leftovers home and had it on actual Thanksgiving evening after spending the day working at a museum on the other side of Seoul. I think the director wishes I could work there all the time *L*
I have a scholarship app due before I leave for India which I'm trying to get done. I'm glad I stopped in at my local bank on weds though because it turns out that my atm card won't work in India, but luckily they switched me over to one that would work (and which hilariously has the words 'good luck' written on it). The phone company gave me the run around when I tried to ask them about using my phone in India so I've decided to give up and not worry about being without a working phone for a week. My friend who I'm traveling with will have a phone at least.
I also finished my work at the SNU library yesterday. While I still have to organize my data, it's nice to not have to travel there every other day. That trip is really a pain (3 subway transfers, a bus ride and a 10 min walk). In order to celebrate, I went with a friend to a local jjimjilbang which is literally like two blocks away. I was surprised how nice it was considering it only had two floors and was a local. But it had three different common area saunas, two in the naked areas, and three hot pools which weren't quite the right temperature but weren't bad. My friend and I first went in the common area saunas. Or rather, I went in the rock salt sauna while she tried the others since I can't do charcoal and wood saunas due to my asthma. Then we went in the bath areas, tried out the 'lie down on a slab of heated rock while surrounded by semi-precious stone' sauna, and alternated between different pools. We also were interrogated by this cute little girl who decided to try out all her English on us. Then we headed out into the common area again and bought fruit smoothies. The kiwi one was delicious. We tried out the massage chairs which were great on my back even if they were made for people much taller. However, the squeezing of the legs was actually rather painful and I pulled my legs out (my calves are actually really sore today from it). Then we moved over and laid on infrared heated glass while chatting and vaguely watching tv. Around 9:30, we finally pulled ourselves away from the heat and headed back into the bath area for another long soak before a full body and hair wash (we'd just washed our bodies before and kept our hair out of the water). Then we made our way home, insanely relaxed and sleepy. I went to sleep an hour early and slept for nearly 10 hrs. I was carrying a lot of tension I just didn't realize until it was gone. This might have been more relaxing than my monthly sports massage. I can't decide *lol* Since it's so close, I know where I'll be going when I'm craving some heat.
The Friday before last, I went home for dinner than headed over to the Seoul Lantern Festival since I figured I should see it before it disappeared for the year (it runs for 3 weeks but the weekend before last was the last few days). They set up the lanterns so they float above the river which I love to walk near whenever I'm in the area so it was nice to visit but wow was it really crowded when I got there. My pics are here. I was rather amused that the China-made lanterns were archaeology related, but I think the fish ones impressed me the most.
I had expected to work on my scholarship app on Tuesday, but I had an asthma attack at 3am. I resisted using my inhaler as long as possible, but I couldn't stop coughing so I gave up and used it. This, of course, led to my heart pounding madly for awhile while I played games on my phone, and my not getting to sleep until 5:30am. I turned off my alarm for the next day since there was no way I was waking up at 9am to get to the SNU library and slept in until 11. I awoke to a text asking me if my evening was free from one of the fulbrighter's who works in the fulbright office. He had food poisoning so he wanted to know if I could cover his class teaching North Korean defectors English. I said yes, even though it caused flashbacks to teaching English in Japan. I at least wasn't nervous because I've done classes like this hundreds of times. Getting there took over 1 1/2hrs though at least there was kimbap and tea and someone sharing a fried chicken when we got there. Then it was teaching three high school girls for two hours. The games I know which can be played on the fly are still really popular amusingly enough. And they served us sweet buns in the middle which was apparently a new thing. Then another long trip home before showering and calling my friend in India to plan our trip a bit more. Not how I expected to spend my day but it was interesting enough as a one off thing.
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Weds here so I took Weds off and went to see Mockingjay which I enjoyed, but partially because even though it followed the book, it was a lot less boring than the book. I then went on a sock hunt since two friends of mine requested fuzzy animal socks. Cute, trendy socks are one of the more fun trends here in Korea, especially since they only cost a dollar or two and have some of the most interesting patterns. I sometimes can't wear the too small ones but other than that, the skies the limit when it comes to patterns. I found a pair that had little 8 bit stormtroopers, lightsabers and artoos all over them. And one covered in weird food. I also picked up some fuzzy iron man socks for myself and found my friends panda socks. All in all a good haul. I'm going to own so many more socks after living here *L*
Our Thanksgiving dinner was catered from the local US military base and I was in heaven to eat some turkey (ham/pork are pretty much the only meats you get consistently in Korea... chicken is available but it's almost always fried). Their stuffing was pretty good too, though the mashed potatoes sucked. And it was so nice to have pumpkin pie. It was with the other Fulbright researchers so it was also nice to catch up with some people. Since it was held in our building, I took a plate of leftovers home and had it on actual Thanksgiving evening after spending the day working at a museum on the other side of Seoul. I think the director wishes I could work there all the time *L*
I have a scholarship app due before I leave for India which I'm trying to get done. I'm glad I stopped in at my local bank on weds though because it turns out that my atm card won't work in India, but luckily they switched me over to one that would work (and which hilariously has the words 'good luck' written on it). The phone company gave me the run around when I tried to ask them about using my phone in India so I've decided to give up and not worry about being without a working phone for a week. My friend who I'm traveling with will have a phone at least.
I also finished my work at the SNU library yesterday. While I still have to organize my data, it's nice to not have to travel there every other day. That trip is really a pain (3 subway transfers, a bus ride and a 10 min walk). In order to celebrate, I went with a friend to a local jjimjilbang which is literally like two blocks away. I was surprised how nice it was considering it only had two floors and was a local. But it had three different common area saunas, two in the naked areas, and three hot pools which weren't quite the right temperature but weren't bad. My friend and I first went in the common area saunas. Or rather, I went in the rock salt sauna while she tried the others since I can't do charcoal and wood saunas due to my asthma. Then we went in the bath areas, tried out the 'lie down on a slab of heated rock while surrounded by semi-precious stone' sauna, and alternated between different pools. We also were interrogated by this cute little girl who decided to try out all her English on us. Then we headed out into the common area again and bought fruit smoothies. The kiwi one was delicious. We tried out the massage chairs which were great on my back even if they were made for people much taller. However, the squeezing of the legs was actually rather painful and I pulled my legs out (my calves are actually really sore today from it). Then we moved over and laid on infrared heated glass while chatting and vaguely watching tv. Around 9:30, we finally pulled ourselves away from the heat and headed back into the bath area for another long soak before a full body and hair wash (we'd just washed our bodies before and kept our hair out of the water). Then we made our way home, insanely relaxed and sleepy. I went to sleep an hour early and slept for nearly 10 hrs. I was carrying a lot of tension I just didn't realize until it was gone. This might have been more relaxing than my monthly sports massage. I can't decide *lol* Since it's so close, I know where I'll be going when I'm craving some heat.
The Friday before last, I went home for dinner than headed over to the Seoul Lantern Festival since I figured I should see it before it disappeared for the year (it runs for 3 weeks but the weekend before last was the last few days). They set up the lanterns so they float above the river which I love to walk near whenever I'm in the area so it was nice to visit but wow was it really crowded when I got there. My pics are here. I was rather amused that the China-made lanterns were archaeology related, but I think the fish ones impressed me the most.
I had expected to work on my scholarship app on Tuesday, but I had an asthma attack at 3am. I resisted using my inhaler as long as possible, but I couldn't stop coughing so I gave up and used it. This, of course, led to my heart pounding madly for awhile while I played games on my phone, and my not getting to sleep until 5:30am. I turned off my alarm for the next day since there was no way I was waking up at 9am to get to the SNU library and slept in until 11. I awoke to a text asking me if my evening was free from one of the fulbrighter's who works in the fulbright office. He had food poisoning so he wanted to know if I could cover his class teaching North Korean defectors English. I said yes, even though it caused flashbacks to teaching English in Japan. I at least wasn't nervous because I've done classes like this hundreds of times. Getting there took over 1 1/2hrs though at least there was kimbap and tea and someone sharing a fried chicken when we got there. Then it was teaching three high school girls for two hours. The games I know which can be played on the fly are still really popular amusingly enough. And they served us sweet buns in the middle which was apparently a new thing. Then another long trip home before showering and calling my friend in India to plan our trip a bit more. Not how I expected to spend my day but it was interesting enough as a one off thing.
